Lyon Airport

Lyon airport has an interesting feature: taxis drop off passengers on the arrival floor and pick up passengers one floor higher in front of the departure hall. And if you have luggage there are (best case if none are broken) two microscopic elevators. When I asked the information counter why this was so the answer was "for security reasons".

Lyon St Exupery is great when flying Air France (T2) but a very different story when on another airline and passing through T1 (Lufthansa SN Brussels). The Air France terminal is modern clean and airy with many shops and restaurants past security check. However when disembarking at the other terminal one feels like arriving in a Third World country. Bad signing where-is-the-exit-search no taxis until you get the feeling that there might another floor with more activity... When departing from Lyon T1 be aware that there is not a single shop after security: a cramped area where one can only sit down and wait. had to beg security to be let through to the main hall again in order to buy a newspaper and a snack.

Possibly the most disorganised airport in the world? Have just returned from a snowboarding holiday in the Alps flying in and out of Lyon. On arrival at the start of the week we found that luggage from four different planes was all pushed out on the same belt which then subsequently broke and caused a two hour delay for all those on our transfer whilst we waited for a few people's bags to come through! On departure at the end of the week although arriving more than two hours before the flight we queued for an hour and a half to check in (with no discernable attempt at keeping order - passengers for half-a-dozen planes all stuffed in to one big cattle shed!) then queued for another twenty minutes to go through security & passport control and finally got bustled on to the plane with no time to take advantage of the airside conveniences - not that a duty free the size of your local corner shop and a snack machine really count as conveniences!!! I'd like to think that this was a one off but having encountered much the same service last year too I fear not! Will definitely be flying to Geneva next year!

Lyon airport is very disorganized and I have not yet found out why arriving passengers cross in the corridors with other passengers boarding aircraft via the aircraft bridges causing congestion and sometimes also chaos. Signage is poor and finding your check-in desk upon departure is quite an adventure. The TGV station may be a landmark to see but the rest of the airport can be avoided by transferring somewhere else (but please not in CDG).

Flew into Lyon for a skiing holiday a couple of months back. Discovered they'd moved the rental car off site meaning we needed to get a bus there. Trouble is the one bus only arrived every fifteen minutes or so which was absolutely hopeless in the skiing season with so many passengers all with a lot of bulky luggage. Same problem on the return - we reached the rental car depot an hour and a half before the flight but nearly missed it because of the time spent waiting for the bus to take us to the terminal. So if you have to return a car at Lyon allow LOTS of time.

I recently visited St Exupery Airport for a transfer to Barcelona. All shops were already closed and the b-lounges were situated on landside. It was very warm and there was almost no air conditioning in some parts of the terminal. I don't know why such an important airport is that bad.

Very small airport: BA Executive Club members have to use the Mont Blanc lounge which has a very limited selection of drinks and snacks and gets crowded very easily. It's almost depressing to stay in that dark room (often left unattended in the late afternoon) but the departures area is even more lacking in amenities. I would have advised arriving at the airport close to your departure time but I've seen what happens when the security line backs up because of extremely slow processing. I say don't risk it.